Iran shrugs off envoy’s US visa ban, calls for UN intervention

The 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations in New York (AFP Photo / Timothy A. Clary) / AFP

Tehran on Saturday sidestepped Washington’s refusal to grant a visa to Iran’s new ambassador to the United Nations, headquartered in New York, saying it would consult directly with the world body on the matter.

In response to Washington’s rather refusal to grant a US visa to
Hamid Abutalebi, citing the newly appointed Iranian envoy's
participation in the 1979-1981 hostage crisis, Tehran has said it
would consult with the UN to resolve the issue.

"We do not have a replacement for Abutalebi and we will
pursue the matter via legal mechanisms anticipated in the United
Nations," Abbas Araghchi, a senior Foreign Ministry official
and leading nuclear negotiator, was quoted by Iran's official
IRNA news agency as saying.

Washington has expressed its disapproval of Abutalebi because of
his alleged past affiliation with a Muslim student group that
seized the US Embassy in Tehran in November 1979, holding 52
Americans hostage for 444 days.

Aboutalebi, 56, has previously served as Iran’s ambassador to
three countries and the European Union.

The showdown, which comes just months after the presidents of the
US and Iran had their first formal discussion in 30 years, places
President Obama between a political rock and a hard place. On the
one hand, he will not want to push too hard on Iran and risk
disrupting the fragile negotiation process over Iran’s nuclear
energy program. On the other hand, backing down on the issue
would open him up to fierce criticism from Republicans.

The US Senate voted overwhelmingly on Monday to bar Aboutalebi
from entering America over what that measure’s author, Sen. Ted
Cruz (R-Texas), called a “deliberate and unambiguous insult
to the United States.”

Iranian politicians fired back at the refusal, calling it
“interference” in the affairs of the world body.

"The US Senate action to bar Aboutalebi’s entry as Iran's
designated ambassador at the UN is sheer interference in the
internal affairs of the UN," Mohammad Hassan Asafari, a
member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign
Policy Commission, said earlier in the week.

“The Americans are not entitled to the right to oppose the
entry of the Islamic Republic of Iran's representative at the UN
and the US Senate approval is illegal."

White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed on Friday
confirmed Aboutalebi would be denied an American visa,
effectively barring him from performing the required duties of a
UN ambassador.

"We concur with the Congress and share the intent of the
bill," Carney said, according to Reuters.